Automatic disclosure detection

ABSTRACT

A method of detecting pre-determined phrases to determine compliance quality is provided. The method includes determining whether at least one of an event or a precursor event has occurred based on a comparison between pre-determined phrases and a communication between a sender and a recipient in a communications network, and rating the recipient based on the presence of the pre-determined phrases associated with the event or the presence of the pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event in the communication.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication networks.More particularly, the present disclosure relates to analyzing acommunication between a caller and an agent to determine compliancequality of the agent in a communications network.

2. Background Information

Typically, when a customer is interested in purchasing a product and/orsubscribing to a service provided by a communications network, thecustomer calls a customer service call center to speak with a customerservice agent to inquire about and/or obtain the desired product and/orservice. Customer service agents are instructed and trained to followcertain guidelines when communicating with the customers, includingbeing required to communicate mandated disclosure statements in certaincommunications. For example, a customer service agent may be required torecite certain disclaimer language when an offer for sale is made orwhen a sales transaction is finalized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary general computer system that includes a set ofinstructions for detecting predetermined phrases for determiningcompliance quality in a communications network;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system to detect pre-determined phrasesfor determining compliance quality, according to an aspect of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting an exemplary method of detectingpre-determined phrases to determine compliance quality, according to anaspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting the exemplary method of FIG. 3,according to another aspect of to the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting the exemplary method of FIG. 4,according to yet another aspect of to the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting the exemplary method of FIG. 3,according to still another aspect of to the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting the exemplary method of FIG. 3,according to an aspect of to the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting the exemplary method of FIG. 7,according to another aspect of to the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart depicting the exemplary method of FIG. 3,according to yet another aspect of to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In view of the foregoing, the present disclosure, through one or more ofits various aspects, embodiments and/or specific features orsub-components, is thus intended to bring out one or more of theadvantages as specifically noted below.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method of detectingpre-determined phrases to determine compliance quality includesspecifying and storing a plurality of pre-determined phrases inassociation with an event and a precursor event, receiving audible inputfrom at least a sender and a recipient in a communication over acommunications network, specifying, recording and storing account datafrom the sender based on the communication, and determining whether theevent has occurred based on the communication. When the event hasoccurred, the method includes determining whether at least one of theplurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the event is presentin the received audible input. When the event has not occurred, themethod includes determining whether a trigger phrase associated with theprecursor event is present in the received audible input. When thetrigger phrase associated with the precursor event is present, themethod includes determining whether at least one of the plurality ofpre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event is present inthe received audible input. The method also includes rating therecipient based on the presence of the pre-determined phrases associatedwith the event or the presence of the pre-determined phrases associatedwith the precursor event in the communication.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, when the eventhas occurred, the determining whether at least one of the plurality ofpre-determined phrases associated with the event is present in thereceived audible input further includes selecting at least one of theplurality of predetermined phrases associated with the event, comparingthe selected pre-determined phrases with a transcript of the receivedaudible input, and determining whether the selected pre-determinedphrases are present in the transcript.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, when theevent has not occurred and the trigger phrase associated with theprecursor event is present, the determining whether at least one of theplurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor eventis present in the received audible input further includes selecting atleast one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with theprecursor event, comparing the selected pre-determined phrases with atranscript of the received audible input, and determining whether theselected pre-determined phrases are present in the transcript.

According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, the methodincludes determining whether the transcript includes word stringsmatching the selected pre-determined phrases, and computing a compliancequality score based on the determined word string matches between thetranscript and the selected pre-determined phrases associated with theevent.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the method includesdetermining whether the transcript includes word strings matching theselected pre-determined phrases, and computing a compliance qualityscore based on the determined word string matches between the transcriptand the selected pre-determined phrases associated with the precursorevent.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the methodincludes comparing the computed compliance quality score to apre-determined threshold, wherein when the computed compliance qualityscore exceeds the pre-determined threshold, outputting a positivecompliance quality score, and wherein when the computed score fails tomeet the pre-determined threshold, outputting a negative compliancequality score.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, the methodincludes displaying the outputted compliance quality score to determineat least one of regulatory compliance, marketing compliance, publicrelations compliance, training quality compliance, and corporatemandated compliance of the recipient during the communication.

According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, the methodincludes collecting a plurality of outputted compliance quality scoresfrom a plurality of received communications including the recipient, andaveraging the collected plurality of outputted compliance scores toidentify compliance quality of the recipient for improving compliancequality within the communications network.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the event is a salestransaction, and the precursor event is an offer for sale.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the senderaccount data includes information about at least one of a time, a date,an area code, a call duration, a geographic location, a networkdesignation, an agent, a product, a sales transaction, and an accountbalance.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a system to detectpre-determined phrases for determining compliance quality includes areceiver that receives audible input from a sender and a recipient in acommunication over a communications network, a transcriber thatcommunicates with the receiver to transcribe the audible input into atranscript, an account data processor that collects and records accountdata from at least the sender, a pre-determined phrase database thatincludes a plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with an eventand a precursor event, a pre-determined phrase selector thatcommunicates with the pre-determined phrase database and at least one ofthe transcriber and the account data processor to select at least one ofthe plurality of pre-determined phrases from the pre-determined phrasedatabase, a comparator that communicates with the transcriber and thepre-determined phrase selector to compute a compliance quality scorebased on the transcript and the at least one selected pre-determinedphrase, and an outputter to display results of the computed compliancequality score.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, thepre-determined phrase selector is configured to determine whether atleast one of the event and the precursor event has occurred, whereinwhen the event has occurred, the pre-determined phrase selectorcommunicates with the account data processor and the pre-determinedphrase database to select at least one of the pre-determined phrasesassociated with the event, and wherein when the event has not occurredand the precursor event has occurred, the pre-determined phrase selectorcommunicates with the transcriber to identify a trigger phraseassociated with the precursor event, and when the trigger phraseassociated with the precursor event is present in the transcript, thepre-determined phrase selector communicates with the pre-determinedphrase database to select at least one of the pre-determined phrasesassociated with the precursor event.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, thecomparator is configured to compare word string matches between thetranscript and the selected at least one of the plurality ofpre-determined phrases, and to compute the compliance quality scorebased on the determined word string matches between the transcript andthe selected pre-determined phrases associated with the occurrence of atleast one of the event and the precursor event.

According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, theoutputter is configured to display at least one of a positive compliancequality score and a negative compliance quality score to determine atleast one of regulatory compliance, marketing compliance, publicrelations compliance, training quality compliance, and corporatemandated compliance of the recipient during the communication.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a tangible computerreadable storage medium including a computer program for processinginput variables in a system for detecting pre-determined phrases todetermine compliance quality includes a receiving code segment, recordedon the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to receiveaudible input from a communication between a sender and a recipient in acommunications network and to transcribe the audible input into atranscript, a collecting code segment, recorded on the tangible computerreadable storage medium, executable to collect and record account datafrom at least the sender, a storing code segment, recorded on thetangible computer readable storage medium, executable to receive andstore a plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with at least oneof an event and a precursor event, a selecting code segment, recorded onthe tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to select atleast one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases based on at leastone of the account data and the transcript, a computing code segment,recorded on the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable tocompute a compliance quality score based on word string matches betweenthe selected at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases andthe transcript, and an output code segment, recorded on the tangiblecomputer readable storage medium, executable to display results of thecomputed compliance quality score.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the selectingcode segment is further executable to determine whether at least one ofthe event and the precursor event has occurred, wherein when the eventhas occurred, the selecting code segment is executable to communicatewith the collecting code segment and the storing code segment, and isfurther executable to select at least one of the pre-determined phrasesassociated with the event from the storing code segment, and whereinwhen the event has not occurred and the precursor event has occurred,the selecting code segment is executable to communicate with thereceiving code segment, and is further executable to identify a triggerphrase associated with the precursor event from the transcript, and whenthe trigger phrase associated with the precursor event is present in thetranscript, the selector code segment is executable to communicate withthe storing code segment, and is further executable to select at leastone of the pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor eventfrom the storing code segment.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure the computingcode segment is further executable to compare the word string matchesbetween the transcript and the selected at least one of the plurality ofpre-determined phrases and to compute the compliance quality score basedon the determined word string matches between the transcript and theselected pre-determined phrases associated with the occurrence of atleast one of the event and the precursor event.

FIG. 1 is an illustrative embodiment of a general computer system, onwhich a method of detecting pre-determined phrases to determinecompliance quality can be implemented, which is shown and is designated100. The computer system 100 can include a set of instructions that canbe executed to cause the computer system 100 to perform any one or moreof the methods or computer based functions disclosed herein. Thecomputer system 100 may operate as a standalone device or may beconnected, for example, using a network 101, to other computer systemsor peripheral devices.

In a networked deployment, the computer system may operate in thecapacity of a server or as a client user computer in a server-clientuser network environment, or as a peer computer system in a peer-to-peer(or distributed) network environment. The computer system 100 can alsobe implemented as or incorporated into various devices, such as apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile device, a global positioning satellite(GPS) device, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer,a communications device, a wireless telephone, a land-line telephone, acontrol system, a camera, a scanner, a facsimile machine, a printer, apager, a personal trusted device, a web appliance, a network router,switch or bridge, or any other machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. In a particular embodiment, the computer system 100 canbe implemented using electronic devices that provide voice, video ordata communication. Further, while a single computer system 100 isillustrated, the term “system” shall also be taken to include anycollection of systems or sub-systems that individually or jointlyexecute a set, or multiple sets, of instructions to perform one or morecomputer functions.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the computer system 100 may include aprocessor 110, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), or both. Moreover, the computer system 100 caninclude a main memory 120 and a static memory 130 that can communicatewith each other via a bus 108. As shown, the computer system 100 mayfurther include a video display unit 150, such as a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a flat paneldisplay, a solid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT).Additionally, the computer system 100 may include an input device 160,such as a keyboard, and a cursor control device 170, such as a mouse.The computer system 100 can also include a disk drive unit 180, a signalgeneration device 190, such as a speaker or remote control, and anetwork interface device 140.

In a particular embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 1, the disk drive unit180 may include a computer-readable medium 182 in which one or more setsof instructions 184, e.g. software, can be embedded. A computer-readablemedium 182 is a tangible article of manufacture, from which sets ofinstructions 184 can be read. Further, the instructions 184 may embodyone or more of the methods or logic as described herein. In a particularembodiment, the instructions 184 may reside completely, or at leastpartially, within the main memory 120, the static memory 130, and/orwithin the processor 110 during execution by the computer system 100.The main memory 120 and the processor 110 also may includecomputer-readable media.

In an alternative embodiment, dedicated hardware implementations, suchas application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arraysand other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or moreof the methods described herein. Applications that may include theapparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include avariety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodimentsdescribed herein may implement functions using two or more specificinterconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and datasignals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or asportions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, thepresent system encompasses software, firmware, and hardwareimplementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, themethods described herein may be implemented by software programsexecutable by a computer system. Further, in an exemplary, non-limitedembodiment, implementations can include distributed processing,component/object distributed processing, and parallel processing.Alternatively, virtual computer system processing can be constructed toimplement one or more of the methods or functionality as describedherein.

The present disclosure contemplates a computer-readable medium 182 thatincludes instructions 184 or receives and executes instructions 184responsive to a propagated signal, so that a device connected to anetwork 101 can communicate voice, video or data over the network 101.Further, the instructions 184 may be transmitted or received over thenetwork 101 via the network interface device 140.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system 200 to detect pre-determinedphrases for determining compliance quality, according to an aspect ofthe present disclosure. The system 200 includes a receiver 210 thatreceives audible input from a sender and a recipient in a communication220 over a communications network 230, and a transcriber 240 thatcommunicates with the receiver 210 to transcribe the audible input intoa transcript. For example, a customer in the communications network 230may call a customer service call center to speak with a customer serviceagent about a product or a service. When the call is received, thereceiver 210 communicates with the transcriber 240 in real-time tocontinuously output a transcript of the ongoing conversation. In othercontemplated non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure, thetranscriber 240 may record and store the audible input between thecustomer and the customer service agent to be transcribed at a timeafter the conversation is completed. In further embodiments, thetranscriber may be configured as a recorder to record and store theaudible input as one or more audio files.

The system 200 also includes an account data processor 250 and apre-determined phrase database 260. The account data processor 250collects and records account data from at least the sender via thereceiver 210. The collected account data may include information aboutat least one of a time of the call, a date of the call, an area code ofthe customer, a call duration of the conversation between the customerand the customer service agent, a geographic location of the customer, anetwork designation of the customer's phone, an agent, a product, asales transaction, and an account balance. The information collected iscustomizable to fit the needs of a user, and the collected informationmay be utilized in a variety of ways including, but not limited to,determining whether an event has occurred based on the presence of or achange in one of the above-mentioned categories of collectedinformation.

The pre-determined phrase database 260 includes a plurality ofpre-determined phrases associated with an event and a precursor event.The pre-determined phrases may include, but are not limited to, legaldisclaimers, corporate mandated disclosures, marketing and advertisingsales pitches, slogans, and anecdotes. The event may be a product or aservice sales transaction, a product or a service upgrade or downgradetransaction, a monitored call duration, a specific date of a call,receipt of an incoming call from a particular geographical location, acall from a particular product, or an outstanding account balance. Theevent may include one or more of the above-mentioned events. Theprecursor event may be an offer for sale, an offer for upgrade, arequest for feedback, a response to a request to speak with a manager,and a response to a request for privileged or private information. Theprecursor event may include one or more of the above-mentioned precursorevents. The predetermined phrase database 260 may also be customizableto fit the needs of the user. That is, the user, such as a manager of acustomer service call center, may select an event and a precursor eventto be monitored by the system 200, and the system 200 will populate thepre-determined phrase database 260 with the pre-determined phrasesassociated with the event and the precursor event.

The inventors note that the above listings of account data examples,pre-determined phrases examples, event examples and precursor eventexamples are merely provided for purposes of enhancing understanding ofthe present disclosure, and should not be considered as limiting. Thosehaving ordinary skill in the art would readily understand that theselistings may be extended. Further, those having ordinary skill wouldreadily recognize that other examples of account data, pre-determinedphrases, events and precursor events may be substituted for the onesdisclosed or added to the non-exclusive listings provided in the presentdisclosure.

The system 200 further includes a pre-determined phrase selector 270, acomparator 280, and an outputter 290. The pre-determined phrase selector270 communicates with at least one of the transcriber 240 and theaccount data processor 250 to determine whether the event or theprecursor event has occurred. The predetermined phrase selector 270 alsocommunicates with the pre-determined phrase database 260 and at leastone of the transcriber 240 and the account data processor 250 to selectat least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases from thepre-determined phrase database 260 based on whether the event or theprecursor event has occurred.

The comparator 280 communicates with the transcriber 240 and thepre-determined phrase selector 270 to compute a compliance quality scorebased on a comparison between the transcript and the selectedpre-determined phrase(s). More specifically, the comparator 280 isconfigured to compare word string matches between the transcript fromthe transcriber 240 and the selected pre-determined phrase(s) from thepre-determined phrase database 260 to compute the compliance qualityscore based on the determined word string matches between the transcriptand the selected pre-determined phrase(s) associated with the occurrenceof at least one of the event and the precursor event. In this regard,the comparator 280 may compute the compliance quality score based on acomputation of a percentage match between the pre-determined phrase(s)and the transcript. That is, the compliance quality score represents apercentage match indicating whether or not the pre-determined phrasesare sufficiently present in the conversation. Accordingly, the system200 may implement the Levenshtein distance method to compute thecompliance quality score; however, the Inventors also contemplate thatthe comparator 280 may be configured to utilize other known methods forcomparing and matching word strings to derive the compliance qualityscore.

In alternative embodiments, when the transcriber 240 is configured as arecorder that records the audible input and stores the audible input asrecorded audio files, the pre-determined phrase database 260 may storepre-determined phrases as audio files, as well. In this regard, thecomparator 280 may further be configured to compare the audio files ofthe recorder and the audio files of the pre-determined phrase database260 to compute the compliance quality score based on determined speechrecognition matches between the audio files of the recorder and theselected audio files of the pre-determined phrase database 260associated with the occurrence of at least one of the event and theprecursor event. It is also contemplated that the comparator may beconfigured to utilize any known speech recognition methods or techniquesto derive the compliance quality score.

The outputter 290 displays the results of the computed compliancequality score. More specifically, the outputter 290 is configured todisplay at least one of a positive compliance quality score and anegative compliance quality score to determine at least one ofregulatory compliance, marketing compliance, public relationscompliance, training quality compliance, and corporate mandatedcompliance of the recipient during the communication.

For example, different business units of the network provider maydetermine that certain phrases should be recited by a customer serviceagent during a communication with potential customers or existingcustomers. Each of these business units, alone or in any combination,may require the manager of the customer service call center to followtheir prescribed guidelines. More particularly, assume a marketingdepartment of the network provider has conducted a market study in whichit is determined that “flip-phones” are desirable. In an effort toincrease sales, the marketing department may require the customerservice agents to offer free “flip-phones” to existing customer thatextend their contracts. In this regard, the customer service call centermay train the customer service agents to offer the “flip-phones” at thebeginning of a conversation. Once the customer service agents aretrained, the manager of the customer service call center may utilize thesystem 200 to monitor the customer service agents' compliance with themandated disclosure passed down from the marketing department. Thus, thesystem 200 provides the manager a tool in which the manager canautomatically check that the customer service agents are complying withtheir training and the prescribed guidelines set out by one or more ofthe business units. The system 200 further allows the manager to assessthe skill of the customer service agent and improve performance of thecustomer service agents. That is, the manager may review the scores ofthe agents to determine, for example, whether more agent training isnecessary to ensure compliance with the mandated disclosures, whetherthe mandated disclosures should be modified for effectiveness, orwhether system 200 should be reconfigured to obtain more predictable oraccurate results.

Further, the manager may be interested in determining why a customerservice agent has obtained a negative compliance quality score, but hasa high volume of sales. Based on the outputted score, the manager mayable to determine that the reason the score is low is because theparticular agent approaches offering and finalizing sales in analternative manner while still basically conveying all the requiredinformation. At that point, the manager can reconfigure the system 200or may go back to the various business units to suggest alternativeacceptable guidelines.

The inventors also note that the above listings of compliance examplesare merely provided for purposes of enhancing understanding of thepresent disclosure, and should not be considered as limiting. Thosehaving ordinary skill in the art would readily understand that theselistings may be extended. Further, those having ordinary skill wouldreadily recognize that other examples of compliance may be substitutedfor the ones disclosed or added to the non-exclusive listing provided inthe present disclosure.

As described above, the system 200 may be implemented to automaticallycheck and evaluate customer service agents based on their adherence toprescribed guidelines (i.e., compliance with the prescribed guidelines)and their ability to convey mandated disclosure statements based on anevent or a precursor event, during their communication with customers.In this regard, and to facilitate further understanding of the presentdisclosure, system 200 may be implemented in the following example. Anetwork provider has decided to push a new product, such as a newcellular phone, to existing customers and has further decided to do sothrough their customer service agents. In this regard, the networkprovider may require each customer service agent that speaks with anexisting customer to offer the new cellular phone at the beginning of aconversation. More particularly, upon receipt of the phone call, theprovider may mandate that the customer service agent recite thefollowing script: “Thank you for choosing Provider X, and because youare a valued customer we would like to offer you Product Y at a reduced,valued customer price! This special purchase offer is only available fora limited time only. Would you care to learn more?” To determine whetheror not the customer service agents comply with the mandated disclosures,system 200 may be implemented in the communications network 230 to allowthe network provider to rate their customer service agents based ontheir compliance with the mandated disclosures, whether or not an event,a precursor event, or both have occurred.

The system 200 may be configured to determine whether an event, such asa sales transaction or a precursor event, such as an offer for sale, hasoccurred. After the conversation is received by the receiver 210 and theaccount data processor 250 begins collecting account data from thesender, the predetermined phrase selector 270 monitors the account dataprocessor 250 for the occurrence of the event, such as a notification ofthe sales transaction. When the pre-determined phrase selector 270determines that the sales transaction has occurred, the pre-determinedphrase selector 270 communicates with the pre-determined phrase database260 to select at least one predetermined phrase associated with thesales transaction. The comparator 280 then communicates with thetranscriber 24Q and the pre-determined phrase selector 270 to computethe compliance quality score. That is, the comparator 280 compares thepredetermined phrase(s), associated with the sales transaction, with thetranscript of the conversation between the customer and the customerservice agent to compute a score based on the customer service agent'scompliance with the mandated disclosures regarding sales transactions.

When the event has not occurred, the pre-determined phrase selector 270determines whether the precursor event, or the offer for sale, hasoccurred. Determination that the sales transaction has not occurred maybe based on, for example, no monitored change in the account dataprocessor 250 when the conversation is complete, or simply, no change inthe account data processor 250 occurs after a pre-determined amount oftime during the communication. After it has been determined that thesales transaction has not occurred, the pre-determined phrase selector270 communicates with the transcriber 240 to identify a trigger phrasein the transcript associated with the offer for sale. The trigger phrasemay come from the pre-determined phrase database 260, or alternativelythe trigger phrase may come from a separate trigger phrase database (notshown) provided at the pre-determined phrase selector 270 or at thetranscriber 240. The trigger phrase may be set at the time system 200 isconfigured for operation, or the trigger phrase may be set duringoperation of system 200. For example, the trigger phrase may be a wordsuch as “buy,” or “purchase,” or “product Y.” In this regard,identification of the trigger phrase in the transcript alerts thepre-determined phrase selector 270 that pre-determined phrasesassociated with the offer for sale may be present in the transcript.

When the pre-determined phrase selector 270 determines that the triggerphrase associated with the precursor event is present in the transcript,the pre-determined phrase selector 270 communicates with thepre-determined phrase database 260 to select at least one of thepre-determined phrases associated with the offer for sale. As discussedabove, the comparator 280 then communicates with the transcriber 240 andthe pre-determined phrase selector 270 to compute the compliance qualityscore.

Accordingly, when the pre-determined phrase selector 270 determines thesales transaction has not occurred after a pre-determined amount of timehas elapsed during the communication, the pre-determined phrase selector270 determines whether the trigger phrase associated with the offer forsale is present in the transcript. In the instant example, if thecustomer service agent generally adheres to reciting the mandateddisclosures, that is, if the customer service agent basically sticks tothe mandated script, the pre-determined phrases selector 270 willidentify that the trigger phrases, “purchase” and “product Y” arepresent in the transcript. In this regard, the pre-determined phraseselector 270 then communicates with the pre-determined phrase database260 to select the pre-determined phrase(s) associated with the offer forsale. Accordingly, customer service agents may be rated based on theiradherence to the mandated disclosures, that is, the customer serviceagents may be rated based on their adherence to offering “product Y”regardless of whether or not the customer service agent completes thesale. Thus, even if a sale transaction has not occurred, the customerservice agent can still be rated based upon his/her compliance with theprescribed guidelines as set out by the network provider when anexisting customer calls the customer service call center.

More particularly, the customer service agent may be given a positivecompliance quality score if he/she adheres to the prescribed guidelinesand recites the mandated disclosures when making the offer for sale of“product Y” during the communication with the customer. The customerservice agent may be given a negative compliance quality score if he/shefails to sufficiently recite the mandated disclosures when making theoffer for sale of “product Y.” The outputter 290 will display results ofthe computations on, for example, a monitor or print-out, and a user canautomatically make a determination about whether or not the customerservice agent is in compliance with one or more of the above-identifiedcompliance examples.

In a situation where the event has not occurred, and the trigger phraseis not identified in the transcript, the comparator 280 does not computea compliance quality score. Rather, the pre-determined phrase selector270 may be further configured to continuously monitor the account dataprocessor 250 for the sales transaction to occur and scan thecontinuously updated transcript for identification of the trigger phraseas the communication continues. If no event has occurred and no triggerphrase is identified at the conclusion of the communication, nocompliance quality score is indicated; however, the manager of thesystem 200 may be alerted of the “non-score” so that the manager mayreview the transcript of the communication to see if the customerservice agent failed to comply with the mandated disclosures requirementor if the communication did not require any mandated disclosures.

If the system 200 were set up to determine whether an offer for sale anda sale were made according to the mandated disclosures, as in theinstant example, and the customer service agent receives a “non-score,”the manager may review the transcript and determine the substance of thecommunication. If the communication relates to the customer merelyinquiring about account settings for on-line billing, for example, thenthe user can determine that the customer service agent is still incompliance with the network provider's prescribed guidelines even thoughhe/she received the “non-score.”

In view of the above, the present disclosure enables, for example,managers to more effectively use speech transcription technology toautomatically detect whether mandated disclosure statements are made bycustomer service agents in a communication with a customer within acommunications network. This allows managers to more efficientlydetermine compliance quality of the agents within the communicationsnetwork and ultimately improve the products and services provided by thecommunications network.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting an exemplary method of detectingpre-determined phrases to determine compliance quality, according to anaspect of the present disclosure.

System 200 may perform the method as shown in FIGS. 3-9. Morespecifically, in S300 the method includes specifying and storing aplurality of pre-determined phrases in association with an event and aprecursor event in the system 200. These methods may be performed by thepre-determined phrase database 260. In S305 audible input from at leasta sender and a recipient in a communication over a communicationsnetwork is received in system 200. This method may be performed by thereceiver 210. The received audible input may also be transcribed into atranscript, or recorded and stored as one or more audio files, in S305.These methods may be performed by the transcriber 240, alone or incombination with the recorder, as discussed above. In S310 account datafrom the sender based on the communication is specified, recorded andstored in the system 200. These methods may be performed by the accountdata processor 250.

The method of detecting pre-determined phrases to determine compliancequality continues with S315, in which the system 200 determines whetherthe event has occurred based on the communication. As discussed above,this method can be performed by the pre-determined phrase selector 270,and the event may be based on a change in the account data of theaccount data processor 250 being monitored by the pre-determined phraseselector 270. In S320, when it is determined that the event hasoccurred, the method includes determining whether at least one of theplurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the event is presentin the received audible input. Here, the pre-determined phrase selector270 communicates with the account data processor 250 and thepre-determined phrase database 260.

FIG. 4 shows an expanded view of S320 and determining whether at leastone of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the eventis present in the received audible input. More specifically, the methodof S320 further includes selecting at least one of the plurality ofpre-determined phrases associated with the event (S400), comparing theselected pre-determined phrases with a transcript of the receivedaudible input (S405), and determining whether the selectedpre-determined phrases are present in the transcript (S410). Here, thepre-determined phrase selector 270 communicates with the pre-determinedphrase database 260 to select the phrase(s) associated with the event(S400). The pre-determined phrase selector 270 communicates the selectedpre-determined phrase(s) to the comparator 280, and the comparator 280compares the pre-determined phrase(s) with the transcript from thetranscriber 240 to determine whether the selected pre-determined phrasesare present in the communication.

FIG. 5 shows an expanded view of S410 and determining whether theselected pre-determined phrases are present in the communication whenthe event has occurred. More specifically, in S410 the method determineswhether the transcript includes word strings matching the selectedpre-determined phrases (S500), and computes a compliance quality scorebased on the determined word string matches between the transcript andthe selected pre-determined phrases associated with the event (S505).

FIG. 6 shows an expanded view of S325 and rating the recipient when theevent has occurred. More specifically, when the compliance quality scoreis computed by the comparator 280 in S320, the comparator 280 thencompares the computed compliance quality score to a pre-determinedthreshold in S600. When the computed compliance quality score exceedsthe pre-determined threshold, the method outputs a positive compliancequality score in S605. However, when the computed score fails to meetthe pre-determined threshold, the method outputs a negative compliancequality score in S610. The method of outputting the compliance qualityscores can be performed by the outputter 290.

In S330, when it is determined that the event has not occurred, themethod includes determining whether a trigger phrase associated with theprecursor event is present in the received audible input. Here, thepre-determined phrase selector 270 communicates with the transcriber 240and scans the transcript for the trigger phrase. It is also contemplatedthat the pre-determined phrase selector 270 may also communicate withthe pre-determined phrase database 260 or a separate trigger phrasedatabase for the selection of the trigger phrase to be identified in thetranscript, as discussed above.

When the trigger phrase associated with the precursor event is presentin the transcript, the method determines, in S335, whether at least oneof the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the precursorevent is present in the received audible input. FIG. 7 shows an expandedview of S335 and determining whether at least one of the plurality ofpre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event is present inthe received audible input. More specifically, the method of S335further includes selecting at least one of the plurality ofpre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event (S700),comparing the selected pre-determined phrases with a transcript of thereceived audible input (S705), and determining whether the selectedpre-determined phrases are present in the transcript (S710). Here, thepre-determined phrase selector 270 communicates with the pre-determinedphrase database 260 to select the phrase(s) associated with theprecursor event (S700). The pre-determined phrase selector 270communicates the selected pre-determined phrase(s) to the comparator280, and the comparator 280 compares the pre-determined phrase(s) withthe transcript from the transcriber 240 to determine whether theselected pre-determined phrases are present in the communication.

FIG. 8 shows an expanded view of S710 and determining whether theselected pre-determined phrases are present in the communication whenthe precursor event has occurred. More specifically, in S710 the methoddetermines whether the transcript includes word strings matching theselected pre-determined phrases (S800), and computes a compliancequality score based on the determined word string matches between thetranscript and the selected pre-determined phrases associated with theprecursor event (S805).

FIG. 9 shows an expanded view of S325 and rating the recipient when theprecursor event has occurred. More specifically, when the compliancequality score is computed by the comparator 280 in S325, the comparator280 then compares the computed compliance quality score to apre-determined threshold in S900. When the computed compliance qualityscore exceeds the pre-determined threshold, the method outputs apositive compliance quality score in S905. However, when the computedscore fails to meet the pre-determined threshold, the method outputs anegative compliance quality score in S910. The method of outputting thecompliance quality scores can be performed by the outputter 290. Apositive compliance quality score may be indicative of a customerservice agent's ability to convey the mandated disclosures in acompliant manner. A negative compliance quality score may be indicativeof the customer service agent's inability to convey the mandateddisclosures in a compliant manner.

When it is determined that the event has not occurred and the triggerphrase has not been identified, the comparator 280 does not compute acompliance quality score, as noted in S330. Rather, as shown in S340,the method includes alerting a user of the system 200 that a “non-score”has been determined when the communication is complete. Alternatively,when no event has occurred and no trigger phrase has been identified inS330, and the communication is ongoing, the method is recycled to S305.That is, the communication continues to be monitored until an event or aprecursor event occurs. In other words, the pre-determined phraseselector 270 continues monitoring the account data processor 250 for anevent to occur or for the trigger phrase to be identified in thecontinuously updated transcript.

In S325, the method also includes displaying the outputted compliancequality score to determine at least one of regulatory compliance,marketing compliance, public relations compliance, training qualitycompliance, and corporate mandated compliance of the recipient duringthe communication. It is further contemplated that S325 may includecollecting a plurality of outputted compliance quality scores from aplurality of received communications including the recipient; andaveraging the collected plurality of outputted compliance scores toidentify compliance quality of the recipient for improving compliancequality within the communications network. By averaging a plurality ofscores based on a plurality of conversations held by the agent, themanager may be able to more accurately rate the agents compliancequality.

While the system 200 has been described in a customer service setting,application of the system 200 may extended to other settings, such astraining and monitoring compliance quality of, for example, emergencyresponders, air traffic controllers, or any other profession thatrequires their agents to respond in a certain manner to a certainsituation in a communication.

While the computer-readable medium is shown to be a single medium, theterm “computer-readable medium” includes a single medium or multiplemedia, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associatedcaches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable medium” shall also include any medium that is capableof storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution bya processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or moreof the methods or operations disclosed herein.

In a particular non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, thecomputer-readable medium can include a solid-state memory such as amemory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatileread-only memories. Further, the computer-readable medium can be arandom access memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally,the computer-readable medium can include a magneto-optical or opticalmedium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capturecarrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over a transmissionmedium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include anycomputer-readable medium or other equivalents and successor media, inwhich data or instructions may be stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsthat may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference toparticular standards and protocols, the disclosure is not limited tosuch standards and protocols. For example, standards for Internet andother packet switched network transmissions represent examples of thestate of the art. Such standards are periodically superseded by fasteror more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions. Inthis regard, the present disclosure may be applied to communicationsmade over public switched telephone networks, wireless networks, or theinternet. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocols having thesame or similar functions are considered equivalents thereof.

The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of the variousembodiments. The illustrations are not intended to serve as a completedescription of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systemsthat utilize the structures or methods described herein. Many otherembodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewingthe disclosure. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from thedisclosure, such that structural and logical substitutions and changesmay be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure.Additionally, the illustrations are merely representational and may notbe drawn to scale. Certain proportions within the illustrations may beexaggerated, while other proportions may be minimized. Accordingly, thedisclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative ratherthan restrictive.

One or more embodiments of the disclosure may be referred to herein,individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely forconvenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of thisapplication to any particular invention or inventive concept. Moreover,although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrangementdesigned to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted forthe specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover anyand all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R.§1.72(b) and is submitted with the understanding that it will not beused to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Inaddition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, various features may begrouped together or described in a single embodiment for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure. This disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter may be directed toless than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments. Thus,the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimedsubject matter.

The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, andnot restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within thetrue spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Thus, to the maximumextent allowed by law, the scope of the present disclosure is to bedetermined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the followingclaims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited bythe foregoing detailed description.

1. A method of detecting pre-determined phrases to determine compliance quality, comprising: specifying and storing a plurality of pre-determined phrases in association with an event and a precursor event; receiving audible input from at least a sender and a recipient in a communication over a communications network; specifying, recording and storing account data from the sender based on the communication; determining by at least one processor whether the event has occurred based on the communication; when the event has occurred, determining whether at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the event is present in the received audible input; when the event has not occurred, determining whether a trigger phrase associated with the precursor event is present in the received audible input; when the trigger phrase associated with the precursor event is present, determining whether at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event is present in the received audible input; and rating the recipient based on the presence of the pre-determined phrases associated with the event or the presence of the pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event in the communication.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the event has occurred, the determining whether at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the event is present in the received audible input further includes: selecting at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the event; comparing the selected pre-determined phrases with a transcript of the received audible input; and determining whether the selected pre-determined phrases are present in the transcript.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the event has not occurred and the trigger phrase associated with the precursor event is present, the determining whether at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event is present in the received audible input further includes: selecting at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event; comparing the selected pre-determined phrases with a transcript of the received audible input; and determining whether the selected pre-determined phrases are present in the transcript.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: determining whether the transcript includes word strings matching the selected pre-determined phrases, and computing a compliance quality score based on the determined word string matches between the transcript and the selected pre-determined phrases associated with the event.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising: determining whether the transcript includes word strings matching the selected pre-determined phrases, and computing a compliance quality score based on the determined word string matches between the transcript and the selected pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the rating the recipient comprises: comparing the computed compliance quality score to a pre-determined threshold, wherein when the computed compliance quality score exceeds the pre-determined threshold, outputting a positive compliance quality score, and wherein when the computed score fails to meet the pre-determined threshold, outputting a negative compliance quality score.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the rating the recipient comprises: comparing the computed compliance quality score to a pre-determined threshold, wherein when the computed compliance quality score exceeds the pre-determined threshold, outputting a positive compliance quality score, and wherein when the computed compliance quality score fails to meet the pre-determined threshold, outputting a negative compliance quality score.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: displaying the outputted compliance quality score to determine at least one of regulatory compliance, marketing compliance, public relations compliance, training quality compliance, and corporate mandated compliance of the recipient during the communication.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising: displaying the outputted compliance quality score to determine at least one of regulatory compliance, marketing compliance, public relations compliance, training quality compliance, and corporate mandated compliance of the recipient during the communication.
 10. The method of claim 6, further comprising: collecting a plurality of outputted compliance quality scores from a plurality of received communications including the recipient; and averaging the collected plurality of outputted compliance scores to identify compliance quality of the recipient for improving compliance quality within the communications network.
 11. The method of claim 7, further comprising: collecting a plurality of outputted compliance quality scores from a plurality of received communications including the recipient; and averaging the collected plurality of outputted compliance scores to identify compliance quality of the recipient for improving compliance quality within the communications network.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is a sales transaction, and the precursor event is an offer for sale.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the account data includes information about at least one of a time, a date, an area code, a call duration, a geographic location, a network designation, an agent, a product, a sales transaction, and an account balance.
 14. A system to detect pre-determined phrases for determining compliance quality, the system comprising: a receiver that receives audible input from a sender and a recipient in a communication over a communications network; a transcriber that communicates with the receiver to transcribe the audible input into a transcript; an account data processor that collects and records account data from at least the sender; a pre-determined phrase database that includes a plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with an event and a precursor event; a pre-determined phrase selector that communicates with the pre-determined phrase database and at least one of the transcriber and the account data processor to select at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases from the pre-determined phrase database; a comparator that communicates with the transcriber and the pre-determined phrase selector to compute a compliance quality score based on the transcript and the at least one selected pre-determined phrase; and an outputter to display results of the computed compliance quality score.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the pre-determined phrase selector is configured to determine whether at least one of the event and the precursor event has occurred, wherein when the event has occurred, the pre-determined phrase selector communicates with the account data processor and the pre-determined phrase database to select at least one of the pre-determined phrases associated with the event, and wherein when the event has not occurred and the precursor event has occurred, the pre-determined phrase selector communicates with the transcriber to identify a trigger phrase associated with the precursor event, and when the trigger phrase associated with the precursor event is present in the transcript, the pre-determined phrase selector communicates with the pre-determined phrase database to select at least one of:the pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the comparator is configured to compare word string matches between the transcript and the selected at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases, and to compute the compliance quality score based on the determined word string matches between the transcript and the selected pre-determined phrases associated with the occurrence of at least one of the event and the precursor event.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the outputter is configured to display at least one of a positive compliance quality score and a negative compliance quality score to determine at least one of regulatory compliance, marketing compliance, public relations compliance, training quality compliance, and corporate mandated compliance of the recipient during the communication.
 18. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program for processing input variables in a system for detecting pre-determined phrases to determine compliance quality, the tangible computer readable storage medium comprising: a receiving code segment, recorded on the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to receive audible input from a communication between a sender and a recipient in a communications network and to transcribe the audible input into a transcript; a collecting code segment, recorded on the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to collect and record account data from at least the sender; a storing code segment, recorded on the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to receive and store a plurality of pre-determined phrases associated with at least one of an event and a precursor event; a selecting code segment, recorded on the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to select at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases based on at least one of the account data and the transcript; a computing code segment, recorded on the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to compute a compliance quality score based on word string matches between the selected at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases and the transcript; and an output code segment, recorded on the tangible computer readable storage medium, executable to display results of the computed compliance quality score.
 19. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the selecting code segment is further executable to determine whether at least one of the event and the precursor event has occurred, wherein when the event has occurred, the selecting code segment is executable to communicate with the collecting code segment and the storing code segment, and is further executable to select at least one of the pre-determined phrases associated with the event from the storing code segment, and wherein when the event has not occurred and the precursor event has occurred, the selecting code segment is executable to communicate with the receiving code segment, and is further executable to identify a trigger phrase associated with the precursor event from the transcript, and when the trigger phrase associated with the precursor event is present in the transcript, the selector code segment is executable to communicate with the storing code segment, and is further executable to select at least one of the pre-determined phrases associated with the precursor event from the storing code segment.
 20. The tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the computing code segment is further executable to compare the word string matches between the transcript and the selected at least one of the plurality of pre-determined phrases and to compute the compliance quality score based on the determined word string matches between the transcript and the selected pre-determined phrases associated with the occurrence of at least one of the event and the precursor event. 